Family of Epileptic Boy Considers Moving to Get Legal Medical Marijuana

The Woodbury mother who said Gov. Mark Dayton told her to buy marijuana on the streets to help treat her son's medical condition now faces a tough decision.

Her son stands just a couple feet tall and only weighs about 30 pounds, but his heart and soul packs the punch of a heavyweight fighter. "He is one of the toughest people I know," Jessica Hauser said. "I mean, he's had to undergo so many medical procedures."

Two-year-old Wyatt Hauser has epilepsy, and his mom says his condition causes frequent seizures - in just one day as many as 100 seizures can happen.

"Every time Wyatt has a seizure, it's causing brain damage, so the sooner we can get his seizures under control, the better outcome he'll have long-term," Hauser said.

She believes that help lies with medical marijuana.

"We've tried more than 10 medications to help get those seizures under control, and so far none of them have worked," Hauser said.

Now, she says, her family might have to split, temporarily, to get the medical marijuana treatment where it's legal.

"We are pursuing looking at where can we trial this medication in a state where it is legal, and the one we are looking at now is Oregon," Hauser said.

KSTP talked with Dr. Archelle Georgiou who told us, right now, there is no clinical research to support medical marijuana's effectiveness with treating epilepsy.

"On the other hand, there are a lot of anecdotal reports that patients with epilepsy have been helped with marijuana," Dr. Georgiou said.

Dr. Georgiou says the federal government classifies marijuana as a drug with no medicinal value, and that prevents clinical studies.

"It means that we need more research, and we need to really look at marijuana in a more scientific setting," Dr. Georgiou said.

Hauser said her family plans to stay in Minnesota through the legislative session to see if medical marijuana passes.